Algae genome could aid medical, climate research

Betsy Read, a professor of molecular cell biology at CSUSM, examines a solution of Emiliania huxleyi. Read led an international team of researchers who sequenced a "pan genome" for the organisms. Photo courtesy of Cal State San Marcos.

Betsy Read, a professor of molecular cell biology at CSUSM, examines a solution of Emiliania huxleyi. Read led an international team of researchers who sequenced a "pan genome" for the organisms. Photo courtesy of Cal State San Marcos.

“E. huxleyi represents one of the most cosmopolitan phytoplankton in the world’s oceans,” said Christopher Gobler, a professor of marine and atmospheric sciences at Stony Brook University in New York, who published the genome for a separate variety of marine algae in 2011. “They’re very, very important on the global scale for controlling the earth’s carbon budget.”

Their genome could reveal ways to monitor carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and ocean by identifying the genes that trigger processes such as photosynthesis and calcification. And it can help scientists study, through “hind-casting,” the role the algae played in climate during other geologic periods, Dyhrman said.

The algae’s genetic blueprint could also inspire innovation in medicine and technology. Their natural light-reflecting properties could illuminate development of optoelectronics - devices that produce or control light - Read said.

And their shell-forming process could pave the way for calcium-based biomedical devices, such as joint replacements or dental implants. It could also help explain the healthy calcification that happens during bone growth, as well the unhealthy calcium deposits that occur in conditions such as kidney stones and heart disease.

“Knowing the genes and proteins opens up more waves of research to answer these questions,” Read said.